Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to Action

John Friedmann

ISBN 10: 0691022682 / ISBN 13: 9780691022680

Published by Princeton University Press, 1992

About this Item

Num Pages: 229 pages, illustrations. BIC Classification: JFF; JPQ. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 236 x 156 x 28. Weight in Grams: 744. . 1987. First Edition. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780691022680

Bibliographic Details

Title: Planning in the Public Domain: From ...

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication Date: 1992

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: New

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

John Friedmann addresses a central question of Western political theory: how, and to what extent, history can be guided by reason. In this comprehensive treatment of the relation of knowledge to action, which he calls planning, he traces the major intellectual traditions of planning thought and practice. Three of these--social reform, policy analysis, and social learning--are primarily concerned with public management. The fourth, social mobilization, draws on utopianism, anarchism, historical materialism, and other radical thought and looks to the structural transformation of society "from below." After developing a basic vocabulary in Part One, the author proceeds in Part Two to a critical history of each of the four planning traditions. The story begins with the prophetic visions of Saint-Simon and assesses the contributions of such diverse thinkers as Comte, Marx, Dewey, Mannheim, Tugwell, Mumford, Simon, and Habermas. It is carried forward in Part Three by Friedmann's own nontechnocratic, dialectical approach to planning as a method for recovering political community.

From the Back Cover:

"This book is probably the best work on planning theory of the last twenty years. There is no doubt that it will be a major reference for the years to come. . . . It is, in fact, a book on political philosophy and could be extremely useful for all readers interested in the epistemological foundation of social sciences and of public policy."--Manuel Castells, University of California, Berkeley